Many business leaders breathed a sigh of relief when the DotCom bubble burst. ‘Thank God’, they thought, ‘I do not have to deal with this monstrous change to everything that I thought I knew about business, the Internet is just another fad.’
Well the reality of the change we are going through is now clear and nobody who wishes to stay active in the business community can afford to ignore the writing that is now printed on the wall in giant letters.
‘The Internet is changing everything’
- If I were a retailer I would prefer to invest in the Internet rather than set up a new shop.
- If I were a manufacturer, I would prefer to invest in the Internet, than to build traditional international agency arrangements.
- If I were in the knowledge industry I would focus on how to manage a distributed supply network and sales through the Internet
Unfortunately, the investment needed to really make a difference will not come cheap, so it may mean making very difficult choices. But the figures speak for themselves.
20% of the entire value of the British economy is now handled electronically. The break down is stunning.
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£11.4bn
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Internet sales to Households in 2003
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Up from £6.4bn the year before. It is expected to reach £15bn in 2004.
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£39.5bn
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Total sales over the internet in 2003, including business to business sales
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More than double from 2002.
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£195.6bn
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All other forms of IT sales including email, automated telephone sales, and electronic interchange
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Rose 15% to nearly one fifth of the value of the British economy
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There are now 16million Internet shoppers in the UK and women account for 56% of the total.
Internet sales are growing between 5 and 8 times faster than high street sales every year. So far it is only 6% of all shopping but
Mail consignments from Internet sales will reach 400m parcels this year. That is 8 parcels for every man woman and child.
The ONS survey covered 10,000 firms of all shapes and sizes and found that the trend was repeated across all sectors.